Birmingham will lose its one and only New York air link from October.
United has announced that its daily flight from Birmingham to New York Newark will be withdrawn after October 5.
It is a blow to Birmingham’s prestige because any airport or city would value a non-stop link to New York.
In a statement United says that “We have regretfully taken this decision because of the route’s poor financial performance. We will contact customers with bookings for flights beyond this date to provide refunds and re-accommodate where possible.”
This move by United comes less than a year after American Airlines discontinued its non-stop service between Birmingham and New York JFK.
This week United has also confirmed it will suspend services between Glasgow and New York Newark for the winter season, and similarly services between Shannon and Newark will not operate this winter.
The carrier told Business Traveller that no further UK/Ireland cutbacks were planned at the present time.
At the time of writing it is unclear whether or not another carrier will replace United on the New York route.
In the meantime Birmingham-based passengers wishing to fly United will either have to travel south to London Heathrow or north to Manchester.
There are several indirect options (with longer flight times) such as Aer Lingus (via Dublin), Air France (via Paris CDG) or KLM (via Amsterdam).
Birmingham will also lose one of Emirates’ three daily flights from September 1, but on the other hand Emirates has announced that one of these services (currently operated by a B777) will be upgraded to an A380 from October 29.
